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Five things to look for in the LA Clippers sale, suit

League could be looking at months in court to resolve the ongoing saga

By Jimmy Golen

The Associated Press

Posted:
06/10/2014 07:13:34 PM EDT

As he threatened, Donald Sterling is not giving up the Los Angeles Clippers without a fight.

The embattled owner said this week that he is going ahead with a $1 billion lawsuit that claims the NBA violated his rights by banning him from the league and trying to take his team away.

Instead of a quick resolution to the sordid saga, which started when Sterling's girlfriend recorded him making racist remarks, the league now faces the prospect of months — or longer — in court.

Here are five ways the dispute could be resolved now that Sterling's lawsuit against his fellow NBA owners is back on:

NEGOTIATION &GT;&GT; The league could hammer out a deal with Sterling to get him to drop the lawsuit and let the $2 billion sale to Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer proceed. What would persuade the notoriously litigious Clippers owner to go quietly? The NBA could back down on the $2.5 million fine levied against him by commissioner Adam Silver. But it's doubtful Sterling is jeopardizing a $2 billion deal over a relative pittance.

BANISHMENT &GT;&GT; Sterling's temporary acquiescence to the sale might have been a legal rope-a-dope to lull the NBA into canceling the meeting at which it was virtually certain he would have been voted out of the league. Now that the sale is on hold, the league could reschedule the hearing — if for no other reason than to pressure Sterling into a settlement. If he doesn't, the owners vote, the league seizes control of the team and sells it to Ballmer or re-opens the bidding.

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BUYER'S REMORSE &GT;&GT; Ballmer's bid of $2 billion was almost four times the record for an NBA team, and 3.5 times the value placed on Los Angeles' second-most illustrious NBA franchise by Forbes Magazine earlier this year. He won the auction in a crowded field of celebrity bidders that included Oprah Winfrey, entertainment mogul David Geffen and some of Los Angeles' richest men and women.

But if Ballmer was hoping for a smooth transition, the potentially long delay could give him time to rethink his purchase.

LITIGATION &GT;&GT; The lawsuit proceeds, and a California jury decides whether the league violated Sterling's rights by stripping him of his team based on a private conversation with his girlfriend. Or the NBA fights to have the case moved to New York. Or Shelly and Donald Sterling wind up fighting it out in divorce court. Or Ballmer sues Donald Sterling for interfering with his deal.

The winners in this scenario are the lawyers, with a twist: the league constitution says Sterling pays the NBA's legal fees unless he wins on every single claim against him.

VINDICATION &GT;&GT; Sterling wins in court and keeps the team. His lifetime ban is overturned. Maybe he even gets to keep his $2.5 million fine. And then the appeals. And the player boycotts. And sponsors flee. And the Clippers once again become the laughingstock of the league they were for so much of Sterling's tenure as owner.